Posts in Category: Families
Andrews family in-home christmas
Documentary style, in-home portraits are a trend we’ve been working in and loving for a few years now and Christmas 2018 gave us the opportunity to be at it again. The Andrews are a crew we love and for 2018, they wanted their holiday portraits to be chill, and most especially, in their new home in Purlear, North Carolina.
We’ve had the pleasure of taking portraits for these guys several times before. The arrival of their second child, Jaxon, gave us the chance to spend time with them, get to know older brother Luke and capture several baby milestones with them – including his 6 month and first birthday.
Ryan told me that during this shoot, it felt like Christmas morning a bit. The boys were in their pjs, they baked cookies with mom, read new Christmas books with dad and dragged Ryan from room to room, showing them their new home. And of course, they talked dinosaurs – as one does on such occasions.
I find it impossible to believe that there were any cookies left when Santa made it to their address. We have some photos to prove that their were a couple of cute taste-testers.
We love these sessions for their intimacy, informality and our ability to capture the real moments of life, when posed shots just won’t do. If you’re interesting in a documentary style photo shoot (it doesn’t have to be Christmastime), contact us and we’ll work on a plan.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Spillman Family at-home christmas
While Christmas is in the rear-view mirror at this point, we’ve been busy and wanted to make sure that we shared a couple of our in-home Christmas portrait sessions from this last year.
People contact us for all sorts of reasons around the holidays; they want to have portraits made to give as gifts; they need images for their Christmas cards; they want to mark a milestone. A couple of years back, we began offering in-home Christmas portrait sessions and these more documentary in style for some, more intimate and in some cases, more casual. These have become incredibly popular. They’ve become Day in the Life sessions for the holidays.
The Spillman family (Elisabeth, Isaac, Barrett) live just outside of Winston-Salem and Ryan headed there for this session toward the end of last year.
I mentioned milestones and this particular in-home session marked son Barrett’s first Christmas and his Mom and Dad very much wanted it documented. They’re keen to capture all the firsts as a family and the traditions around their holidays.
I love the “coziness-factor” that’s shown in these images. Looking at the photos I can almost hear them cooing and soothing Barrett and feel all the comfort and love that surrounds him as they change his diaper, feed him and provide little cuddles and chin-tweaks. It’s real life and captures a still-life of life as we really know it.
We’re finding more and more that these types of honest, intimate, documentary sessions are the perfect mix of casual and professional. People want to use their phones to capture the everyday in life, but someone is usually missing from the photo and almost always some THING is missing: experience and skill. Ryan and I love to take the style of photos that don’t feel formal, like the ones that people hope to get with their phones, but we provide an understanding of lighting, composition, scene setting and comfort for our subjects that cannot be accomplished by most amateurs. And believe me when I say it’s our great pleasure.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Martinez family portraits
Have you ever been given a gift that made you dissolve into tears? I’m not talking about the newlywed whose husband gives her a microwave for Christmas. I’m talking about something of true, intrinsic value that makes you so happy that you cry tears of joy. When we take portraits of families and tears of joy appear during the viewing, it is the highest compliment. And that happened recently when we photographed the Martinez family.
Mike and Janet Martinez are current clients on the corporate side (their headshots for 2019) for their real estate business, and they asked us to capture some new family portraits that would include their children and grand children.
We chose the greenway in North Wilkesboro specifically because of its many backdrops and ease of moving from location to location along the greenway itself and the river. As photographers, we also love the bridge and steel textures but also views of leaves and river. Janet wanted to have more relaxed and less traditional “posey shots” and wanted several family groupings too.
As part of the session, Janet wanted to get some individual senior portraits of their son and some fun portraits of their daughter who will be celebrating her quinceanera. She chose to wear a family heirloom dress that has been passed down in the Martinez family for generations, but she traded in the traditional hoop skirt for Chuck Taylor shoes.
After the tears dried, we worked with Janet to create family holiday cards that they sent out this year as well as wall art for their home.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
The Arnold family’s fall portraits
This family. What to say about this family. The Arnold’s story feels so close to us, because we’ve been taking their photos – images of the biggest milestones of their lives so far – since the couple became engaged. We photographed them in Chapel Hill and then for their absolutely gorgeous wedding.
Then came child number one – Berklee – who consistently scores a 200 out of 50 on the cute scale. She looks like a little Irish fairy and we just adore photographing her. But then three became four with the birth of new baby, Wyatt. And as far as cuteness goes, he’s going to give his big sister a serious run for her money. Check out the surprise maternity shoot that husband Jeremy coordinated with us on the sly.
Ryan shot these most recent images during the fall of 2018 so that mom Meghan could have the goods for holidays gifts. We know that they anticipate Wyatt being a baseball fan like his dad (can you say RED SOX!?) and we look forward to watching this family in 2019. We love you guys!
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
the love of parents – portraits of grace in the 21st century
How’s that for a grand title? Parenting has been on my mind for a minute: certainly years ago when I realized the sacrifices of my own parents, and absolutely again when becoming a parent myself with Ryan, my partner in all things.
Parenting is a full library. It contains every journal about how to do it, parenting magazines showing it in all its shades, every map of potential adventures with a child, every poem or bit of wisdom from the Kahlil Gibrans, and every scrapbook showcasing the memories of parenting. I imagine rows of volumes about life with a child – in good times and bad, on bikes, on camping trips, in boredom, during downtime, at holidays, recitals, studying, first days of school, and all the random but well-captured calamity that “just happens.” The layers of thought, work, imagination, terror and self-analysis that go into the concept of genetically forming a child and then physically raising that child, while trying to impart and protect them are frankly endless and would fill shelves – and do.
But honestly, especially these days of division and acrimony on cable news 24/7, what is most valuable to me as a new mom of a nearly one year old are the examples and illustrations of parenting with LOVE. I read and seek counsel, believe me – from the doctors and psychologists and from the Bible, but when I have nothing left to metabolize mentally, I return to simply providing love for Finley and looking to my friends, and clients, for proof of it. It’s not over-intellectualized or over-wrought, it’s easy and natural and primal and perfect.
Seeing that love through my lens is restoring me, ya’ll. Thought I’d share.
Listening. Spending time. Including them in preparing for the new baby. Picnics and time together. We’re photographing memories, but we’re also watching our friends and clients be “show up” parents. We’re watching them be present.
Parenting through showing others how to care for the least among us, including adoption dogs.
Parenting through some friendly competition.
And being the protective parents during some much needed downtime.
Our time with these families gave us some insight into what we might expect with Finley, and looking back at some of the photos I’m reminded about what matters most: sticking together and showing love and grace. Starting at home.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.